Political Quotes

“finally, on the Affordable Care Act. My Republican friends have repeated the mantra for 7 years, ``Repeal and replace, repeal and replace.'' It turns out, during those 7 years, they never came up with a coherent plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. It was all slogans, no policy. Now they are scrambling to come up with something. The problem is, every draft, every leaked detail or outline or list of principles we have seen is tied together by one common thread: It will raise costs on average Americans and cut back on their benefits. Average Americans, under the Republican plan, will pay more and get less. No wonder they are hiding the plan somewhere in a basement room, even as they are scheduling markups on the bill for a week from now. They don't want the folks to see it until the very last minute; just rush it through. I don't blame them. It is going to be very hard for Republicans to be proud of this plan, which hurts average Americans, raising their costs and taking away benefits. It is the absolute height of hypocrisy to be hiding this plan. My Republican colleagues complained bitterly, day after day, week after week, month after month, about not having enough time to read the Affordable Care Act when it was being debated. At the time, my friend, the distinguished majority leader, said: Americans want us to slow down, and Congress is putting its foot on the accelerator.…”